Big Things in Little Packages
by Morgageb
Summary: Hanna was expecting nothing spectacular for her spring break, just a week off from classes and a week of causing trouble with her two best friends. Things change when Hanna stumbles upon something in an old warehouse that kick starts her greatest adventure yet. Now, she finds herself on a cross-country journey to help her newfound friend save his family, and possibly, the world.
1. Chapter 1

_**This is my first story so I hope you all enjoy. Please excuse or notify me of any typos you spot, because I am without a Beta to edit it.**_

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><p>Hanna had no freaking clue why she did it. Ok, it was because it was a dare, but so what? You can't honestly expect three teenagers to walk past an abandoned warehouse and <em>not<em> investigate.

It didn't make her any happier about being the one who had to investigate, though.

The building was a rotting structure, far closer to the verge of collapse than Hanna was comfortable with. Every window was either smashed in or out, and the doors were rusted so far of the hinges that the padlock keeping them together didn't block anything out anymore. It would be easy to slip through, especially for someone of Hanna's diminutive size.

The warehouse sat alone on the street, just across from Lake Michigan. Close, but not close enough to worry about any serious damage from the lake. Most of the other buildings around it had rotted down to nothing but frames and wasted materials, but this one sat defiantly among its friends, refusing to give in just yet to the bitter elements of downtown Chicago. Hanna hoped it would stay that way until she had cleared it again.

"You gonna do it or what?" Tamm, Hanna's blonde friend asked. At a height of 5'11" Tamm was pretty intimidating. She had sharp, crystalline features, eyes like an artic fox, and an attitude like an ice princess, Tamm scared everyone. Everyone except Hanna and Buzz that is.

"Come on, just get it over with," Buzz, the other member of their trio, jeered. His real name was Nick, but nobody but Hanna and Tamm seemed to remember that anymore. He had gotten his nickname when some of the upper classmen cornered him in the locker rooms and shaved half his head before fifth hour. In an act of defiance and in a true Buzz fashion, he had owned the nickname until it lost all meaning. Now he insisted the girls call him that, like a battle wound or something.

Buzz had regrown his hair back into its usual brown mess. He had light grey eyes, and a soft, baby face, in direct opposition with Tamm's angular features. He wasn't a dark broody character like some of the boys had Hanna's high school; the ones made her feel self-conscious and weak at the knees if they so much as looked at her. Buzz wasn't like that, he had a much more approachable air around him, but there was still something about him that made Hanna's heart flutter when he smiled at her.

"Why do _I_ have to do this again," Hanna asked.

"Because _you_ lost paper, rock, scissors," Tamm supplied, tone suggesting she thought Hanna was being a baby.

Hanna looked to Buzz, silently pleading with him to save her. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, not willing to risk his life in an argument with Tamm. _Traitor_, Hanna thought to him. She knew he couldn't hear her, but she was pretty sure her eyes were getting the message across.

Hanna sighed, and hiked her backpack up higher on her shoulder. It was a Saturday, but Hanna carried her backpack everywhere with her. It was a nice olive green hiking pack, and had been one of the few presents Hanna's mom had given to her personally, instead of through their house keeper, June Mae, like the rest.

The backpack had been originally packed with hiking supplies from when her mom thought she was goin through an "Outdoors Phase." Much to her mother's disappointment, it had not been a phase. Hanna loved the outdoors, and the backpack had been the perfect present. Hanna had since removed or eaten most of the original supplies (the dehydrated stroganoff had lasted less than 24 hours) and refilled it with supplies she found more useful on a day to day basis.

"Fine," Hanna said, pulling a small LED flashlight from her backpack.

She turned back to face the building, squaring her shoulders and standing at her small, unimposing height. She could do this; it was just an old building after all. What's the worst that could happen?

_You could get crushed when the building inevitably collapses. You could contract tetanus, or fall and break a leg, or an arm, or cut yourself on some rusty metal, or get bitten but I disease infested rat, or- Stop That! _she told herself firmly.

It was starting to get dark, the lowering sun casting long shadows across Hanna and her friends, like dark fingers reaching out to grab them. She shuddered, both from the growing cold and her over active, overzealous imagination. Her friends where egging her on from behind, but not daring to come any closer.

Hanna pulled her jacket closer for warmer. It was the second week of April, but in Chicago, that meant it was still pretty damn cold. Most of the snow had melted, leaving everything a big sloppy mess that froze at night when the breeze blew off of Lake Michigan. Spring may be around the corner in every other place, but not in the Midwest.

Hanna walked cautiously across the cracked pavement to the doors. The left door was hanging half sideways, the padlock and bottom hinge the only thing keeping it semi-upright. Hanna got down on all fours, and crawled under.

The inside reeked of must and mildew and something else Hanna didn't want to think about. There was even less light inside the building, despite the numerous holes in the wall and the broken windows. Hana hastily flicked on her flashlight.

The far corners of the building lit up under the flashlights surprisingly bright glow. It was only a one room building that was about the same size as a two story house. The peaked roof towered over Hanna's head, with most of the windows being just under where the roof and wall met. As she stood there, Hanna had a premonition of the shadows rising up and swallowing her whole. Suddenly, her flashlight seemed to offer less comfort.

A shiver having nothing to do with the cold racked her frame, and Hanna pulled her jacket tighter again. There wasn't much to look at inside, just a lot of empty space. Any area not directly in the flashlights way was quickly plunged into shadow again, raising the building's creep factor by about forty percent. Hanna waved the beamed back and forth across the floor, looking to see if there was anything still here. The far wall was dominated by a giant sliding door, and one corner was filled almost to the ceiling with tall stacks of empty crates, a tarp draped over half of them. Hanna's fear was ousted by her overwhelming curiosity as she crept over to investigate.

The cement under her feet was cracked and chipped, and in some places it was covered in the dark stains of mold. She looked around the boxes and peeked into a few but didn't see anything worthy of more attention. Just as she peeked into one of the last crates on the floor, a mouse scurried up and over the edge and almost purposely over her foot.

Hanna squealed, her flashlight beam arcing widely as she hopped around like an idiot, before it suddenly caught something bright and shiny buried under the boxes.

Hanna's fear was momentarily forgotten as her curiosity took hold again. She approached the boxes more warily this time, on the lookout for any other surprise critters. She shined the light between two small stacks of boxes. Something silver and shiny was behind them, covered in mud and dirt. It looked like some kind of metal, maybe a piece of factory equipment?

Hanna shrugged out of her backpack, placing it on the floor against one of the crates. She set the flashlight down next to it, pointing strait at the space between the boxes, and whatever was back there seemed to wink tauntingly at her. She knelt down on the floor and went to push the closest box out of the way. It didn't budge. She braised herself and tried again, pushing with all her might, but it still didn't move.

Hanna retrieved her flashlight and shined it down into the box. It was empty, just like she thought it had been. There were no bolts on the bottom, and it wasn't catching on anything she could see. _Then why won't it move? _She wondered. She tried one last time to move the box, pushing with all her weight, (which wasn't much) before finally giving up with a huff.

A part of Hanna said to just forget about it at this point, but she couldn't do that. She needed to find another way to move the boxes, because trying to push them out of the way had worked _so well_. She couldn't lift it by herself, especially if she couldn't even push it by herself.

_Maybe I can get Tamm and Buzz to help me_, she thought.

Hanna strode quickly for the door, pausing only a minute to get down and duck under it. "Hey guys, I think I found something, but there are these boxes in the-."

There was no one there.

Hanna looked around a little, but she didn't see them standing around the street or sitting on the curb like she had expected. There was nobody else around either, just her and some seagulls calling noisily overhead.

"Buzz? Tamm?" she called. Then a little louder, "Buzz! Tamm!" but she still didn't hear anything. She waited a few minutes, but when nobody appeared, Hanna started getting worried. _Where could they have gone?_

She ran to the side of the building and checked around the corner, then for good measure she walked the whole perimeter. By the time she had made it back around front, her friends still hadn't made an appearance. Hanna looked up and down the street, not seeing anyone. Hanna's worry started to evaporate as it dawned on her

"God damn it you idiots!" she yelled. Her friends had ditched her. It was there idea of a joke, leaving her behind to find her own way home. Oh, she knew her friends didn't do it to be vicious; they were just stupid and thought it would be funny. Knowing this didn't make her any less pissed though.

Hanna thought about waiting till dark to see if she could give them a heart attack for leaving her here. After a moment of thinking about it though, she decided she didn't really want to be alone on an abandoned street until after dark. It was unlikely they'd think to come back for her now, which was probably good, because she was pretty sure she would kill them the next time she saw them.

Hanna plopped down on the sidewalk and simmered, weighing her options on what to do. She could call June Mae, but that would lead to questions about where her friends were. Her answer would inevitably get back to her mother and then she'd be royally screwed because there were no expectable answers for where she was and why she was there that late, especially not for her mother.

She couldn't take a cab, because she was pretty sure this was private property, and the last thing she needed was cops getting involved. The media would have a field day and her mom would bury her alive for the scandal of it.

The more Hanna sat there and realized she would probably have to walk, the darker her mood got. She was beyond mad now, she was furious. She hadn't been this mad in a long time. Now that she thought about it, the last time she was this mad was their fault too.

Hanna took a deep breathe to try and calm down. _Maybe mom was right? Maybe they aren't good company for me._ She immediately felt guilty about even thinking that. She loved them to bits, they were her best friends, had been for years. It had always been the three of them, ever since middle school. Tamm and Buzz had known each other longer than that because they lived right next door to each other, but they had seemed more than willing to welcome another misfit into their mist when Hanna transferred to their school at the end of elementary.

Hanna reached into her front pocket. No phone.

She quickly patted down all her remaining pockets but came up empty. With a groan she remembered where she had put it; in her backpack. Which was currently inside the creepy warehouse building that was growing creepier every second the sun went down.

_Those idiots! _She thought again. She prayed that somehow they could hear her cursing them to Hell and back.

Hanna ducked back under the ruined doors and went back to the corner to grab the flashlight, her backpack, and subsequently, her phone. She grabbed her backpack and threw it over one shoulder, and then grabbed the flashlight that was still on. The beam sliced through the ever growing dark of the warehouse and reflected off something.

The discovery of her missing friends had pushed the discovery of the thing behind the crates to the back of her mind. She was still incessantly curious about what it could be, but now she had no one to help her find out. She supposed she could always come back with her friends and have them help her move the boxes, they defiantly owed her after this little stunt. Even if they agreed to come back, though, what was to stop them from getting arrested for trespassing?

Maybe if she was careful, she could look over the boxes. The stack in front of the strange-shiny-object-thing wasn't that big, maybe seven or eight feet, she could climb that easy. There was an overturned, wooden crate just a little to her left that should work for a stepping stool. It would boost her up probably close to two feet, which should be enough for her to get a peek of what was back there.

Hanna dumped her backpack up against the wall, before carefully climbing up onto her improvised step. It felt much more solid than she would have thought, it didn't creak either like she had expected. She went as high on her toes as she could go and peered over the stack, sweeping the flashlight back and forth until she caught a glint of metal in the dark.

It looked like a large, round top platform, as long as Hanna was tall and at least twice as wide. There was a large piece of gray metal, with layers of delicate silver pieces underneath. Dozens and dozens of crisscrossing wires and tubes wound around underneath, connecting smaller parts and machines. The whole thing was covered in a layer of muck and dust. _What'd they do, fish it out of the lake,_ Hanna thought.

Hanna tried to stretch up higher on her toes, leaning forward onto the boxes for a better look. She tumbled forward with a crash, landing right on top of the metal platform. There was a resounding _dong!_ from where the metal of the flashlight struck. The flashlight rolled away and hit the ground somewhere Hanna couldn't see, the light going out and plunging her into the dark.

Hanna stood up, her elbows and knees ached from the impact, and she could feel a cut on her finger starting to bleed.

_What. The. Hell. _She thought.

Hanna turned to look over her shoulder at where the boxes should be, but they weren't there anymore. She stuck her hand out and waved it through where she thought they should be, but found nothing but air. She looked and felt around as best she could in the darkness, searching for her flashlight. She needed to confirm this with her other senses, needed to confirm that it was just her imagination, and she had _not_ just tumbled through a solid stack of immovable crates.

There was a loud click, and then the sound of a machine humming to life as the platform beneath her started to shift a little. Hanna spread her feet for balance, arms wide as she tried to steady herself. The hum of machines echoed and bounced around inside the building, doubling the noise until it drowned out all other sounds. Two bright spotlights flickered weakly on up by the ceiling and with a shriek of protesting metal, focused down on Hanna. She shielded her eyes form the sudden brightness of them, trying to blink the spots from her eyes.

There was a series of clicks and whirs, before a deep, rattling voice said:

"Where am I?"

For a second, everything was absolutely still. Then Hanna screamed. She must have startled the thing, because it jumped slightly, making a sound like radio feedback. She tried to back away from it, but one of her feet slipped out from under and she tumbled backwards onto the floor, her head connecting with the concrete with a sickening _Crack!_ She black out almost instantly.

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><p><em><strong>Hey Y'all, I really like some feedback on this. It will help inspire my muse :) Thanks!<strong>_

_**-Morgageb**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hello everybody! I'm back and I will forgo a long authors note and just say thank you to all the people who reviewed my last chapter: Shaddowdarkcloud, SunnySides, HeartsGaurdianSol, SuntreakersSquichy2.0, and Starlight837! you guys made me cry tears of joy ;)**_

Hanna awoke with a killer headache. Her mouth felt like it was full of cotton and her back and shoulders were sore. She was sprawled out awkwardly on the floor, and she could feel something sticky coating the back of her head and neck. And she was completely and thoroughly confused.

Hanna laid there for a few minutes, staring up at the ceiling dazedly, trying and failing to remember where she was and how she got there. Her mind was doing dizzying circles and she was starting to get sick it. A wave of vertigo and nausea overcame her and she clutched her head letting out a low moan. After her stomach had settled again and she no longer felt like she was on a _Tilt-A-Whirl, _Hanna opened her eyes again.

It was almost too dark to see anything, with only the barest hints moonlight filtering into wherever she was. She could tell she was inside some kind of building, but even so she was freezing. There was an ice cold wind blowing through the busted doors and windows, most likely fresh off the lake. _The lake_, she thought suddenly. _That's right, I was right near the lake._

She tried to sit up upon this discovery, but immediately lowered herself back to the ground until the world stopped spinning. She continued to lay there for another few minutes, trying once again to piece back together the rest of her memories from before. The night was almost entirely quiet around her. It was too early in the year for insects, and too cold for most of the birds to be back yet. A sudden, loud noise from the corner closest to Hanna nearly caused her to have a heart attack.

Hanna bolted up in surprise, her heart pounding, but was quickly reminded why that was a bad idea. She put her head between her knees and tried not to hurl. When she felt certain her food was safe, she lifted her head up and looked around again. She still couldn't see much better, but she did spot a dark, lumpy shape propped up against the wall a few feet away.

"My backpack," Hanna whispered quietly.

She stumbled to her feet, teetering dangerously before she steadied herself again. Her stomach rolled like the ocean, but Hanna clamped down on her nausea. She took careful, steady steps toward the wall until she kicked something with her foot. It rolled a little, but Hanna followed the sound and stooped down to pick whatever it was up.

It was her flashlight. Battered and bruised, but it was hers alright. She tried clicking it on but nothing happened. She shook it and tapped it against her palm, but all she got was a weak flicker of the bulb.

"Great," she muttered. With a sigh, she unscrewed the cap and fiddled with the bulbs a little, twisting them this way and that till they were all snug in their holdings before trying to turn it on again. This time, the flashlight faithfully lit up, revealing her backpack hunched up against the wall like a homeless man against the cold. The poor thing was quite the sorry sight, not that Hanna thought she must look much better at this point.

She swung her prized possession up onto her back just as another loud noise, sounding like tearing metal, came from only a few feet to her left. Hanna jumped almost a foot into the air and instinctually tried to catch the noisemaker in her flashlight beam. The light glinted off something silver in the dark and she zeroed in on it.

Hanna approached warily, keeping the thing constantly in her flashlights beam, like it was some sort of predator. She was overwhelmed by the feeling of déjà vu, as she slowly got closer to whatever it was. A single, solitary box was parked in front of the shiny thing. Something niggled at the back of Hanna's mind, a sense of familiarity and a warning all at once. Hanna knelt down and shoved the crate out of the way; it skittered across the ground, clattering and tipping over under the excess force Hanna had used to move it. She yanked her hands back close to her chest, almost as if she was afraid the crate would come back and bite her. Hanna felt heat rise to her cheeks in embarrassment at how foolish she was acting, but with no small amount of trepidation, she turned back to get a good look at the silver thing.

She was surprisingly disappointed. It was nothing but a large heap of metal, dirty and scummy and covered in layers of mud and dust. Hanna felt even more foolish looking at the underwhelming pile of glorified scrap metal. She didn't know why she was so freaked out about it up until a minute ago, but she was honestly a little ashamed of herself. She had never been one to be afraid of her own shadow. In a rare spiteful moment, Hanna gave it a sharp kick.

Then the pile of medal _moved._

It rose up like a platform base, and Hanna saw it was shaped like a hand. Faster than she could blink, the hand shot out and snatched her up, raising her up at a speed that set Hanna's stomach churning again. She would have put a hand to her mouth if they both weren't occupied trying to keep her from falling off. She was raised almost up to the ceiling, cupped in the palm of the platform hand. Trembling, she grabbed onto anything she could to keep from teetering off the edge and falling a distance that would certainly kill her in her current state.

Two spotlights lit up directly in front of Hanna's face. They were a warm blue, and they eased some of Hanna's nerves as she was bathed in there tranquil glow. That calm was shattered when the thing said,

"What the Pit was that for?"

All the air left Hanna's lungs in a solid _whoosh_. Hanna's whole body went slack from shock, and in an unconscious action, Hanna's hand searched for the flashlight, by some miracle still finding it in her hand. She raised up her beam and shown it in the direction of the spot lights.

It was a giant metal face, as filthy as the rest of the metal but a beautiful silver underneath, like the metal of some sort of flashy sports car. There was no nose that she could see, but otherwise it looked fairly humanoid, which made it all the scarier in Hanna's opinion. The spotlights turned out to be two bright eyes, regarding her with annoyance and a hint of suspicion.

Hanna sucked in a breath to scream bloody murder, but found she didn't have the air for it. In fact, she couldn't seem to find any air; she was starting to feel suffocated and her chest felt tight. She started to panic from the lack of air, and placed a hand over her sputtering heart. She needed to calm down or she was going to have an asthma attack at this rate, and she wasn't sure she had packed her inhaler.

"Are you alright?" the thing asked. It sounded genuinely concerned. It raising a second hand and went to cup it around Hanna. Hanna abruptly found her breath again and gave a small shriek, scuttling backwards across its palm until she suddenly hit open air.

"Whoa," the thing shouted, and made an impressive lunge and scooped Hanna out of the air with a surprising gentleness. He cradled her securely between both of his huge hands; almost as if he was afraid she would try and jump again.

"Would you quit that," he growled, giving his hands a little shake for emphasis. "If you fall again from this height you'll offline yourself." He glared down at Hanna in warning.

Hanna trembled under his glare, his words falling on deaf ears in her terror. She sat there and trembled in his palms like a mouse as her brain continued to scream unhelpfully at her the danger she was in.

Suddenly his glare softened, and Hanna felt herself being lowered to the ground. With great care, the behemoth set her down gently onto the concrete floor. Hanna forgot her fear for a moment, temporarily blindsided but the completely unthreatening action of the creature.

"I won't hurt you, kid," he said, sitting back up. By now Hanna's eye's has adjusted to the lack or her flashlight and she could clearly see how big he was. His frame filled up the entire warehouse corner, his head nearly brushed the lower edge of the warehouse's roof. Hanna had to tilt her head back to see all of him.

Hanna sat there a minute more, blinking stupidly up at the giant, before she very articulately asked, "Are you sure?"

He chuckled, "Ya, I'm sure."

Hanna was surprised that she actually felt reassured by this. She was still terrified, but less so now. She drew her knees up to her chest in a position of comfort and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin like she had done when she was little. Well, littl_er. _

"Where am I?" She asked. "What happened?"

"Frag if I know," he grumbled. "As for what happened, I guess I startled you and you startled me and then you fell and hit your helm, pretty hard I might add. How does it feel?"

"My helm-what?" Hanna had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. But that might have just been because her mind felt like it was scrambled eggs right now.

He gave her a look, then said "Your helm, the main housing for your CPU, your memory storage," he tapped the side of his head, "your _helm."_

"Oh, you mean my _head_," Hanna guessed. She slowly reached around and felt along the back of her skull, where she found a very large goose egg and a small gash. Well that explained why her hair was sticky.

"It's fine, thanks," she rubbed the nob at the back of her skull again, wincing slightly when she pressed on it too hard.

"If you don't mind me asking," Hanna said quietly. "What are you?"

He grunted, before saying "I'm an autonomous robotic organism from the planet Cybertron, or Autobot for short."

"Autobot," Hanna tested the word. It didn't sound very threatening, it actually kind of sounded like something a kid would name a toy robot. Hanna tried not to make her smile to obvious at that thought.

"Do you have a name," Hanna asked just as quietly.

"My designation is hard to translate into your language, but I believe the closest equivalent would be _Hound._"

"You mean, like a _Hound _dog?" Hanna had to fight to keep the smile out of her voice, even though she was pretty sure it was still showing on her face.

If a metal face could look confused, _Hound_'s did.

Hanna fought back her smile and managed to say without giggling, "my name Hanna, Hanna Hosaka."

"Well, Hanna Hosaka, it appears I owe you my gratitude. Your discovery of my hiding place reactivated my defense systems and I in turn reactivated."

"You're welcome," Hanna said softly. Before she could stop herself, her mouth open and she blurted rudely, "What are you doing here?"

Appalled and embarrassed at her own rudeness, Hanna slapped a hand over her mouth before she said anything else stupid. If June May could hear her now, she'd smack her upside the head for her tactlessness, and never mind what her mother would do for being so insensitive.

"I'm sorry," Hanna stammered. "I didn't mean to sound so rude." She felt heat rising in her cheeks from shame.

Hound only chuckled, seemingly completely unoffended. "It's alright. I received an invitation from my Prime inviting all remaining Autobots to earth for sanctuary and to fight our Decepticon foes."

Hanna sat there and blinked stupidly at him, trying to wrap her head around what he was saying, but one thing stuck out to her the most. "A Deceptiwhatnow?"

"A _Decepticon_. They are our sworn enemies. They want to destroy all other life forms, just like they destroyed our home world, Cybertron. We have been at war with them for longer than your species has been around."

"Wow, that's….a long time," Hanna said. She finally uncurled from her little a ball and decided to sit crisscross applesauce to be more comfortable.

Hound made some sort of sound of agreement, then settle back against the wall. He looked so deep in thought that Hanna didn't really want to disturb him. It was weird to think of something that looked like a giant machine to be deep in thought. They both sat there silent for a few more moments before something occurred to Hanna.

"You said you were summoned here. So…why aren't you with the people who summoned you here?" she asked.

Hound grunted angrily, "I was just entering your atmosphere when something-actually _someone_-shot me down. My navigation skills and communications were damaged in the crash. I only got half a set of coordinates before I was attacked."

"Well, where do the coordinates lead?"

"I'm not entirely sure. All I can tell is that they're west of here, but without an alt. mode I won't be able to make it very far."

Hanna cocked her head. "An alt. mode?

"An alternative form that will allow me to blend in," he supplied helpfully.

"Like a disguise."

"Yes. I need to scan a vehicle with about the same mass as me."

Hanna thought for a moment. Something similar in size to a giant, thirty foot metal man. An idea slowly formed in her mind. 

_**As always, let me know what you think!**_

_**-Morgageb**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this took so long everybody! I hope you enjoy, and I don't own anything!**

"This is a terrible idea," Hound grumbled, peeking out around the edge of the building and into the dim streets. They were abandoned at this time of night, but he was keeping to the shadows upon Hanna's request. She said people would "freak" if they saw him. When Hanna was certain the coast was clear, she motioned for him to proceed. They were running out of tall buildings to hide behind this far away from the city's center, but they had been fairly lucky so far.

"Well, we don't really have a choice now do we," Hanna whispered back. She was seated rather comfortable in his spacious palm, acting as a navigator for them. Hound had gotten annoyed when she had fallen behind, unable to keep up with his massive strides around town so he had simply scooped her up without asking. He had scared the living daylights out of her at first, but then it was kind of fun, almost like a ride from one of the fairs.

They had been sneaking around downtown for over an hour now, ducking behind big apartment buildings and into construction sites to stay out of site. Hanna had made them take the most out of the way, roundabout path she could think of in an effort to avoid civilization, and so far they had had only a handful of close calls. All of which Hanna could feel taking years off her life.

They were only a few miles from Hanna's neighborhood now, and she was already beginning to see the change in upkeep of the area around her. They were starting into the territory of money and pride, and it showed. Manicured lawns and paved drives, a few with gates and homes that boasted multiple stories. Almost all the lights were off in the houses they passed; only a sporadic few were still glowing in the darkness, like eyes watching their every move. The back of Hanna's neck tingled at the thought.

She searched up and down the street, looking for the familiar markings of her own home, and more importantly, her neighbor's. Hound crept almost comically through the middle of the street, crouched low and taking each step as carefully as if he were walking on thin ice. The street lights glinted off his metal armor, sometimes to the point of almost blinding Hanna, no matter how dark outside and how dirty Hound was.

"There!" Hanna whisper shouted, pointing straight ahead of them, about eight houses up, where a large dark mass sat parked in the black asphalt drive way.

Hound seemed to pick up his pace a little until they were standing in the driveway, looking down at the largest civilian vehicle Hanna had ever seen, but she was certain it could fit in just fine with a military machine. It was her neighbor, Mathew's, pride and joy.

A huge Hummer H2, dark olive green with gleaming chrome accents wrapping all around. It had been lifted a little so Hanna didn't even reach the mirror and the step was at about knee level on her. A huge grille guard gleamed silver on the front, the bars almost as thick around as Hanna's arm with a matching silver roll bar stretched over the top. Her neighbors constant crowing to anyone who would listen also told her that it was a full leather interior with a state of the art navigation system that could get service anywhere in the world, including the ocean if Mathew's wild tales were to be believed. Hanna thought he was full of bull, and was a little disgusted by how much more he cared for and took care of his car than his two year old daughter, Hattie.

Hanna had babysit the girl a couple times and she had never met a sweeter child, but part of the job had always seemed to be having to listen Mathew gush over his 'baby' at the end of the day, and she wasn't talking about the one in the house. She had hated having to listen to the shallow man every time, but now she was actually grateful she had listened to him, because it had helped her find the perfect vehicle for Hound now.

Hound stared down at the vehicle; it was a little under half his height, but Hanna felt pretty confident that it was the perfect vehicle for him. He slowly lowered Hanna to the ground, being surprisingly gentle with his movements. Hanna was a little touched by how careful with her Hound was being. While he had looked terrifying at first, she was starting to suspect Hound was just a giant teddy bear on the inside. The thought made he smile slightly.

"What do you think?" Hanna whispered excitedly. She was pretty sure no one was awake right now, but she felt to speak any louder would shatter the secrecy of what they were doing, like breaking a spell.

Hound looked around the vehicle, even getting down on all fours and trying to look in the windows a little. He gave what Hanna thought was a thorough inspection of the vehicle before he finally said,

"It'll do." Hanna glowed under the praise.

She jumped about a foot in the air when blue lasers shot out of his eyes and onto her neighbor's precious hummer. She nearly cried from fear until she realized it wasn't melting into an expensive pile of chrome and steel at her feet, but was glowing blue, covered in little pixilated squares of light. With a click the light suddenly disappeared and Hanna looked up at Hound in question. Hound folded in half and started crumbling in on himself and Hanna stumbling back a few steps to get out of the way.

Hound was fully resting on the ground now, on wheels instead of all fours, and as she watched, he took on the identical shape of the hummer. His hands slid forward and became the hood and sides, his body and legs the cab. Hound's silver metal turned dark green and shiny, shinier than any wax job could ever do. Lastly, the roof of the hummer slid slowly into place, almost like a sun roof, and then with a small_ click_, locked.

Two identically green hummers now sat in Mathew's drive way. Hanna blinked a couple times to try and get her brain to catch up on what she had just watched. It was a little like watching a magic trick. You start with a giant metal man, throw up a curtain for a few seconds, and then pull it down to reveal a shiny new SUV. Needless to say, it was a little disconcerting.

In fact, if Hanna had just walked up, she wouldn't have been able to tell which one was Hound. Hell, she was having a hard enough time as it was, and she _knew_ which one was Hound. He rolled forward and back on his tires a little, as if testing them. Hanna slowly approached the driver's side window and Hound rolled down the window obligingly.

"There is a state of the art navigation system installed. If you can input a general area you want to go it should be able to lead you there no problem," she said, smiling eagerly.

Hound's voice answered back from the radio, surprising her a little. "It doesn't work like that. The navigation system will only work if I am capable of receiving the required coordinates, but with my damaged systems all I would get back would be static, if I'm lucky."

Hanna felt her smile fall, and somehow Hound must have seen or sensed her deflate because he sighed.

"Listen kid, I appreciate everything you've done for me so far, but I think I'm just gonna have to make my own way from here."

Hanna shook her head. "It could take you weeks to find your own way there, especially because you don't know exactly where you're going. Not to mention you have no idea what to look for. The place your looking for could be half way across the world."

Hanna suddenly had another idea. "Wait here," she said, and bounced towards her front door.

With her hand on the door knob she turned back to Hound again, "Oh and don't turn back. Someone might see you," and then she hurried inside.

She closed the door behind her as quietly as possible, carefully to keep the heavy door from slamming. She slowly slid off her tennis shoes, setting them up against the wall so they wouldn't squeak on the floor. She stepped softly across the carpeted entry way, being careful with each step she took.

The entire house was dark and quiet; Hanna guessed it was probably after three in the morning. It was too dark for her to see the wall clock and she didn't dare to turn on the lights to check. She tip-toed out to the living room, holding her backpack straps tight to keep her bag from bouncing. She winced every time the bag crunched or squeaked, afraid even the smallest sound would wake June May. The woman had ears better than an owl. She sidestepped the coffee tables and the coach, passing the front bathroom and then she was in front of the kitchen. She was only a few steps from the stairs and then she would be home free.

The lights flipped on, revealing June May standing in silhouette.

She froze_. Busted,_ Hanna gulped.


End file.
